Approximately 30 years ago, the Lord gave me a vision and told me to write it down. God revealed to me that the Older Testament scriptures were all about Jesus -- that He used the natural to paint a picture of His Son Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. He also used the natural to paint a picture of Satan and his kingdom of darkness. Hidden within the Older Testament scriptures is the truth of Jesus Christ who will redeem mankind and rule and reign with God over the supernatural Kingdom of God. God has always had one plan and one plan only to redeem sinful man.
I have heard some teachers and preachers saying that Jesus is a Jew and will remain a Jew forever. Jesus is God and will remain God forever. As the Word in Genesis, Jesus spoke all creation into being working together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that Jesus is the same "yesterday (Old Testament), today (New Testament) and forever (Revelation)." Hebrews 13:8 This means He doesn't change! God doesn't change! The fact that Jesus came to earth through a Jewish woman doesn't change the fact that Jesus is still God and remains God. He is not a Jewish God or a Gentile God. He is the true God of all no matter what nation, tongue or tribe. Both Jews and Gentiles are on equal ground -- filthy sinners -- in the eyes of God. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. We are also equally loved by God because of Jesus. Jesus didn't fall short of the glory of God, not because He came as a Jew but because He is God. God displayed His love, mercy and grace to all by sending His own precious and chosen Son to earth to redeem fallen humanity. Jesus had the fullness of Truth and the fullness of the Holy Spirit to keep Him in all His ways because He had no sin. He was fully Man -- as God intended. The first Man/Adam was holy when the Godhead lovingly shaped and formed him into their image and likeness. Adam had no sin.
The Bible makes it clear that God is no respecter of persons. Jesus came through the Jews because He had to in order to fulfill scripture. God displayed His love for the Israelites by sending Jesus through them to redeem them. God didn't give the Law to the Gentiles! Because God gave the Law to the Israelites, Jesus had to come as an Israelite to fulfill it. And not only as an Israelite, but from the Tribe of Judah to also fulfill scripture. So God sent His only begotten Son through the Israelites and the tribe of Judah to save them and fulfill the Law for them. But God didn't stop there. He also sent Jesus to redeem all no matter what nation, tribe or tongue. The love of God through Jesus Christ reaches to the ends of the earth.
Throughout the Older Testament, God told the nation of Israel and certain men and women to "fulfill" their vow, promise, His purpose, etc. 2 Kings 23:24; 2 Chron. 10:15; Lev. 22:18; Num. 6:21; Ezra 1:1; Job 22:27; Ps. 22:25; Ps. 50:14; Eccl. 5:4-5) He also told them what He would fulfill. God will always fulfill His Word. (1 Kings 6:12; Num. 23:19; Dt. 25:6; Ps. 119:38; Isa. 46:11; Jer. 11:5; Jer. 33:14; Ezek. 12:25) The Israelites fell short, but God did not. He sent His only begotten Son to fulfill all of the Law and the Prophets. Jesus is greater than any person great or small in the Older Testament and the New Testament. It is the nature of humans to exalt other persons, nations or themselves, but Jesus who is above all is the only One worthy of exaltation, honor, worship and praise. When we reduce Him to being a Jew, we reduce who He truly was, is and will ever be -- God.
Jesus lived as a Jew as He walked the earth because He had to do all that the Law and the Older Testament required to fulfill it once for all. The Word of God many times in the New Testament says that "this was to fulfill scripture" when an Older Testament scripture is quoted. (Matthew 1:22; 3:15; 4:14; 5:17; 5:33; 12:17; 21:4; John 12:38; 13:18; John 15:25) All that Jesus did as He walked the earth was in fulfillment of Old Testament scripture. He said that He didn't come to destroy the Law but to fulfill it. To fulfill means to bring it to completion and/or perfection. He obeyed it perfectly for all and completed its requirements. The Law lives on eternally in Christ. He became the Law for us. Jesus did what no man could do -- He not only removed the penalty of death for sin but also became the Law so we are no longer under its demands. We now are to live in the royal law of love through Jesus Christ. James 2:8: If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well." KJV The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 6:2: "Carry each other's burdens, as in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." We are no longer demanded to do this or that. We are now to do it out of love as Jesus did for us. Out of His and the Father's love, Jesus carried the burden of all of our sins. He wants us to now carry each other's burdens out of our love for Him and one another.
No man could live up to God's high and holy standards except One who is God. The Israelites showed us throughout the Older Testament that it was impossible for a human to live up to God's high and holy standard. God must send a holy Man to earth to live up to His standard and redeem mankind back to Him. Jesus came into the world as Man because the original sin was accounted to the first man Adam and had to be reversed in the same fashion as it was committed--by a holy Man. God's ways are perfect. When Adam was shaped and formed by the Godhead, male and female and all offspring (humanity) were "in Adam." Adam was holy when He was created. Jesus, the Second and Last Adam who is and remains holy, also has male, female and all offspring in His Body, therefore restoring and making all who are "in Him" holy once again. What was lost in the first Adam, God restored in the Second and Last Adam -- Jesus. Jesus was Perfect Man, just as Adam was a perfect man when God, the Word Jesus and the Holy Spirit lovingly shaped and formed him into their own image and likeness. God is still using Jesus, the Word and the Holy Spirit to shape and form us into His image once again.
Jesus wasn't fully Jewish or fully Gentile but fully Man (human) representing all of humanity living life in fullness without sin as Adam/Man was in the beginning before sin entered. God wants us to live in the same fullness as man that Jesus lived. As we allow Him to remove our fleshly ways, the more fully we live as humans full of the holiness, love and glory of God. This should be our goal. We don't exalt one nation over another but exalt the One who redeemed all who believe in Him back to the Father in the Heavenly Land of Promise. The earthly land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem are a foreshadowing of the Heavenly Land of Promise and the New Jerusalem where all who believe in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit will reside for all eternity no matter what nation, tribe or tongue. We must not exalt the earthly over the heavenly. We are all one in our sinfulness and one in Christ and His righteousness. Praise God for His undying love and faithfulness.
No comments:
Post a Comment